Once more the two rivals were running for the same office.
Several thousands of Abraham Lincoln's admirers called themselves "Wide
Awakes." There were Wide Awake Clubs in near every Northern town. Night
after night they marched in parades, carrying flaming torches and
colored lanterns. And as they marched, they sang:
"Hurrah! for our cause--of all causes the best!
Hurrah! for Old Abe, Honest Abe of the West."
No one enjoyed the campaign excitement more than did Willie and Tad
Lincoln. They did their marching around the parlor carpet, singing
another song:
"Old Abe Lincoln came out of the wilderness,
Out of the wilderness, out of the wilderness,
Old Abe Lincoln came out of the wilderness,
Down in Illinois."
People everywhere were talking about Old Abe, and he received a great
deal of mail. Some of the letters came from Pigeon Creek. Nat Grigsby,
his old schoolmate, wrote that his Indiana friends were thinking of him.
Dave Turnham wrote. It was in Dave's book that Abe had first read the
Declaration of Independence. A package arrived from Josiah Crawford who
had given him his _Life of Washington_.
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